Humber’s business class threw its first comedy show aimed at generating profits and giving students the experience they need in the field.

Graduating business students had a class project on entrepreneurship where they needed to come up with various business events and ideas to generate profit, which they get to keep.

Bob Bolf, a business school instructor, he said he jokingly tells the class his role is to keep them out of jail, making sure they don’t do anything illegal or silly while also providing guidance.

“As a teacher, as far as I’m concerned, if we break even or lose a bit of money, I’m okay with that, because for me, it’s the experience that the students have, and what I really want to do is challenge them in an emotional and personal sense,” Bolf said.

“This is not a conceptual course, this is where you have to push yourself beyond your comfort limits because you’re reaching out to the public trying to attract costumers, so for me, that’s the value of the course,” he said.

Bolf co-teaches this program with another business faculty, Peter Sirois. They both have entrepreneurial backgrounds, the two instructors draw their experiences together to help their students which often has its challenges.

“Anybody who creates something and puts an event together is going to be faced with some uncertainty, there’s no guarantee of success, but in this case if it fails which means we wont make any money, there’s no real penalty but I want the students to really experience what its like starting your own business or doing a business venture,” Bolf said.

Bob Bolf, a faculty member of Humber’s Business School, applauds at the Comedy Night organized by business students on Saturday, April 13. (Daryna Sarhan)

This course has been running for nine years, and this is the first time the class has been able to put up a comedy night. Last year’s graduates had this idea and scheduled it but it all fell through since on the day of the event everything was closed down due to an ice storm.

Andrey Kravchenko, in his final year of business management diploma, was one of the students who put this event together. He said they have brought four comedians, two of them have already graduated from a comedy course in Lakeshore and the other two were outsourced.

Nicholas Rizzi performs standup comedy at the Comedy Night organized by business students on Saturday, April 13. (Daryna Sarhan)

Kravchenko said he had faced a few setbacks, one of them was comedian canceling last minute, and students had to figure out a way to find someone to replace him and they have succeeded.

“Booking the room was challenging too, we had to ask for help from our professor,” Kravcheno said. “Advertising was challenging as well, sourcing all the tables and chairs, we needed to go through so many procedures and so many places, facilities and security.

“I think this gives you a little bit of insight on how the business runs, how challenging it is to sell to people,” he said

AJ Badour, a business management student, was sitting among the audience and making sure the event went well, but he was not too happy about the delay.

“I’m really excited for this event, putting it together was both challenging and fun but I’m hoping it can start soon because we’ve been waiting for a while,” he said.

Attendees were able to purchase food and drinks while enjoying the two-hour show.